I am seeing excessive buffering mostly with the Android TV version app for Gen 4 (Chromecast with Google TV) when changing OTA channels.
Change OTA channel.
Buffer circle appears for 5-10 seconds.
Video plays flawlessly for 5-10 seconds.
Video pauses and buffer circle appears for another 5-10 seconds.
Video continues exactly where it left off from the pause and continues uninterrupted from this point on, never to appear again while on this channel. My signal level is strong BTW.
I see 4. only when switching between OTA channels and always with the Chromecast.
I occasionally see 4. with the fire stick, but it is very rare. I never see 4. when switching between fast channels on either platform.
and 2. always occur with both platforms and for all channels, including FAST channels.
Has anyone else seen this? That secondary pause and buffering (4.) on the Chromecast is very annoying.
I just found this post that sounds similar to my issue…
I have new Tablo gen 4, 4-tuner version, and use it with AppleTV (Beta), Roku, AndroidTV on Sony, and Onn/Walmart GoogleTV. The Onn/Walmart one has #4 regularly when watching LIVE TV. Only seems to affect this one streaming box, the others don’t exhibit the issue, and only seems to be with live TV. Been happening for a couple months for me.
My network is a bit unique, using a 3-node TPLink Deco WiFi6 Mesh, with MOCA 2.5 wired backhaul. I have tested connections across the mesh extensively and can easily push 900mbps betweeen the nodes and speed testing shows only 2ms of jitter and no speed issues for clients connected via any node.
The GoogleTV device connects to the main Mesh unit’s WiFi AP, while the Tablo is ethernet connected directly into the wired backhaul.
In any case, the issue doesn’t appear to affect the Roku or AppleTV units, only the Google TV unit, and only live OTA TV.